Wow I feel so dumb...

I just hatched two beautiful healthy baby chicks yesterday, my first time!

Today I was checking them out for any pasty butt to find what appeared as "poo" stuck to one of the chicks. I soaked it for like 30 mins with no success, kind of pinched it a bit to see if it was softening, rubbed it, trying really hard to gently get it off. It looks like it was tearing skin so I stopped, consulted my friend who hatched to then say it's the umbilical cord ((I can't believe I didn't know they had one, I even questioned that during my 30 min soak)) I really hope I didn't just injure my chick, do you think it will be ok? I dried it really well and it's in there pecking away with its friend- ugh I'm so upset with myself cause I just had a baby, I know all about umbilical cords and infections.

I just hatched two beautiful healthy baby chicks yesterday, my first time!

Today I was checking them out for any pasty butt to find what appeared as "poo" stuck to one of the chicks. I soaked it for like 30 mins with no success, kind of pinched it a bit to see if it was softening, rubbed it, trying really hard to gently get it off. It looks like it was tearing skin so I stopped, consulted my friend who hatched to then say it's the umbilical cord ((I can't believe I didn't know they had one, I even questioned that during my 30 min soak)) I really hope I didn't just injure my chick, do you think it will be ok? I dried it really well and it's in there pecking away with its friend- ugh I'm so upset with myself cause I just had a baby, I know all about umbilical cords and infections.

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put bacitracin or neosporin on it, maybe even a bandaid
so long as you didnt pullout its intestines it *should* be fine

the edge looks like when you try to pull a scab off too early. I didn't pull too hard because of that. I was afraid to put neosporin and have it stick or cause anything else to stick. Do you think that's a concern?

the edge looks like when you try to pull a scab off too early. I didn't pull too hard because of that. I was afraid to put neosporin and have it stick or cause anything else to stick. Do you think that's a concern?

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nope, hence the bandaid, use one of those little round bandaids and neosoporin

I just hatched two beautiful healthy baby chicks yesterday, my first time!

Today I was checking them out for any pasty butt to find what appeared as "poo" stuck to one of the chicks. I soaked it for like 30 mins with no success, kind of pinched it a bit to see if it was softening, rubbed it, trying really hard to gently get it off. It looks like it was tearing skin so I stopped, consulted my friend who hatched to then say it's the umbilical cord ((I can't believe I didn't know they had one, I even questioned that during my 30 min soak)) I really hope I didn't just injure my chick, do you think it will be ok? I dried it really well and it's in there pecking away with its friend- ugh I'm so upset with myself cause I just had a baby, I know all about umbilical cords and infections.

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Congratulations on your new chicks! I've hatched more than a few, and it's exciting (and a little nerve-wracking) each time.

Like @DwayneNLiz said, your chick will probably be fine. Antibiotic ointment without pain reliever should help prevent infection, or you could spray with a wound healing spray like Vetericyn; I personally like Vetericyn because it's non-toxic and doesn't contain antibiotics so is a good first line of defense against infection.

There's always something to learn with anything new - hatching chicks is no different, so don't be too hard on yourself. The BYC Learning Center has great educational resources: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks, and hanging out in the forums is also a good way to find out about (and be prepared for) some of the weird and unexpected things that can occur.

Thank you for the support, Ialso added organic ACV to their water, they are up and happy! Before I started trying to dislodge the umbilical cord, I searched all over BYC and looked at the hatching 101 etc tabs but nothing talks about an umbilical cord. I think it would be nice if it did include it unless I really overlooked it, I was really trying to find what pasty butt looked like.

Thank you for the support, Ialso added organic ACV to their water, they are up and happy! Before I started trying to dislodge the umbilical cord, I searched all over BYC and looked at the hatching 101 etc tabs but nothing talks about an umbilical cord. I think it would be nice if it did include it unless I really overlooked it, I was really trying to find what pasty butt looked like.

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Once at a real computer I can find you links, but if you want to peruse there is a link in my signature (which you can't see when mobile) called incu notes that will bring you to a page filled with lots of things to learn about